Sanitary Spiral for Frozen Baked Goods

Harris was contracted by a bakery to replace an obsolete spiral conveyor in their packaging area. The spiral conveys 2,500 pounds per hour of frozen bakery product from the freezer and elevates the product 14 feet up to a hand packing line. The previous spiral was over 10 years old and ran a standard chain driven design, which needed lubrication on a regular basis and would break often. In addition, it was not a sanitary design and could not be cleaned properly.

Harris’ spiral is a true sanitary design providing full stainless steel washdown capabilities. The belt is cleaned in place without removal improving the sanitary process and decreasing downtime for cleaning. The drum on the spiral moves aiding the chainless plastic modular belting to elevate the product. This minimal resistance design eliminates the need for a chain driven belt decreasing stretching, breakage and eliminating the need for lubrication reducing downtime for maintenance.

Factory acceptance testing was done at Harris with real frozen product to check transfer points, potential product fall back and movement of product to mitigate the risk prior to installation. A site visit by the Harris design staff determined that a special structure was needed for installation due to the existing structure that created obstacles. With pre-planning the installation took less than three days